Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-12-10
SNOW BOUND AT EAGLES
BY BRET HARTE.
copyrighted by. Houghton, Mif1in & Co., and
published by Arrangement with them.l

most terrible in Its cold, strong grandeur.
The narrowing pass was choked for a mo-
ment between two gigantic buttresses of
granite, approaching each other so closely at
their towering sumpfits that trees growing
in opposite clefts Of the rocks intermingled
their branches and pointed the soaring
Gothic arch of q stupendous sgateway. She
raised her eyes with o quickly beating heart.
She knew that the interaacing trees shove
her were as large rs those she had just quit
ted; she knew also that the point where they
met was only half way up the cliff, for she
bad once gazed down upon them, dwindled
to shrubs from the airy summit; she knew
that their shaken cones fell thousand feet
perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from
the SCARED walls they bombarded. She re-
membered that one of these pines, dislodged
from its high foundations, had once dropped
like portcullis in the archway, blocking the
pass, and was only carried afterward by as
sault of steel and fire. Bending her head
mechanically, she ran swiftly through the
shadowy passage, and halted only at the be-
ginning of the ascent on the other side.
It was here that the actual position Of the
plateau, SO indefinite Of approach, began to
be realized 1t now appeared an independent
elevation, surrounded on three sides by
Rorges and water courses. so narrow as to be
overlooked from the principal mountain
range, with which it was connected by long
canyon that led to the ridge At the outlet
Of this canyon-in bygone ages mighty
Fiver-it had the appearance of having been
slowly raised by the diluvium Of that river,
and the debris washed down from above-a
suggestion repeated In miniature by the arti-
dciai plateaus Of excavated soil raised before
the mouth Of mining tunnels in the lower
tanks of the mountain. 1t was the realiza-
tion Of a fact-often forgotten by the dwell
srs in Eagles Court-that the valley below
them, which was their connecting link with
the surrounding world, was only reached by
ascending the mountain, and the nearest road
was over the higher mountain ridge Never
before had that impressed itself SO strongly
upon the young girl as when she turned that
morning to look upon the plateau below her.
Il seemed to illustrate the conviction that
had been slowly shaping itself out of her re-
nsctions ON the conversation of that morning.
Il was possible that the perfect understanding
Of q higher life was only reached from
height still greater, and that to those half
way up the mountain the summit was never
Is truthfully revealed as to the humber
jewellers in the valley.
I DO not know that these profound truths
prevented her from gathering some quaint
farms and berries, or from keeping her calm
gray eyes open to certain practical changes
that were taking place around her. She had
noticed singular thickening in the atmos
phere that seemed to prevent the passage Of
the suns rays, yet without diminishing the
transparent quality of the air. The distant
snow peaks were as plainly seen, though they
appeared as if in moonlight This seemed
due 10 no cloud or mist, but rather to a fad
tng Of the sun itself. The occasional furry
oe wings overhead, the whirling Of larger
birds In the cover, and a frequent rustling in
che underground, as of the passage Of some
sssAlshy animal, began equally to attract her
aetention. 1t was SO different from the ha-
hieual silence of these sedate solitudes Kate
had 10 vague fear of wild beasts; she had
bsen long enough a mountaineer to under
seand the general immunity enjoyed by tho
unmoiesting wayfarer, and kept her way un-
dismayed She was descending an abrupt
tran when shs was stopped by sudden crash
In che bushes It seemed to come from the
eppcsits incline, directly in line with her,
n ha frotI hat ohn
wss sDuxsning. The crash was then repeated
aGAin and again lower down, as of a descend
iag'bsdy. Expecting Ito, apparition of some
eallsn tres, or detached bowlder bursting
ehKpugh the thicket, in its way to the bottom
oe tho gulch, she waited. The foliage was
euddenly brushed aside, and large grizzly
bear half rolled, half waddled, into the trail
sn the opposite side of the bill. A few mo-
ments more would have brought them face
20 ease at the foot of the, gulch;, when shs
dopped there were not fifty yards between
tAeen.
6hs did not scream she did not faint; she
was not even frightened. There did not seem
% be anything terrifying in this huge, stupid
hsasAswhos arrested by the rsistle of stone
diAplaesd BY her descending feet, rose slowly
ca his Aaunches and gazed at her with small,
wondesing eyes Nor did it seem strange to
AsR, sssing that he was in her way, to pick up
. stpps, throw 1t In his direction and say sim
ply, ~tAoi get awayl" IS she would have done
20 sn tntruding cow Nor did IL seem odd
that he should actually @go away" as he did.
scrambling back into the bushes again and
disappearing like some grotesque figure in
Transformation scene. 1t was not until after
As had gone that she was taken with slight
nsrvousness and giddiness, and retraced her
steps somewhat hurriedly, shying little at
every rustlein the thicket. By the time she
had reached the great gateway she was
doubtful whether to be pleased or frightened
at the incident. but she concluded to keep it
20 herself. u
II was still intensely cold. The light of the
midday sun bad decreased still more, and on
reaching the plateau again she saw that a
dark cicud, not unlike the precursor of
ehun4ug storm. was broodin0 over tha sno,vv